This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

The challenges facing John Tory’s SmartTrack proposals

The best part about mayor-elect John Tory’s SmartTrack plan is that it’s already underway.

Metrolinx’s RER project, which would electrify and bring in all-day service across the entire GO rail network, overlaps with SmartTrack in many ways. This means the province has already committed to paying for and building the majority of SmartTrack before Tory even lifts a finger.

Premier Kathleen Wynne committed in this year’s budget to sinking $15 billion into GTA transport projects over the next 10 years. (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

“Tory acts as if SmartTrack is above and beyond what the province is doing, but it’s not,” said transit expert Steve Munro.

The challenge for the new mayor will be synchronizing the two visions and convincing the province, which will electrify GO lines one by one, to start with the Kitchener and Stouffville corridors which form the spine of his SmartTrack plan.

While Metrolinx hasn’t yet announced an order for electrification, Munro says the Lakeshore line is the obvious candidate to go first because it houses the shops that maintain the trains. Kitchener could go next, but the Stouffville line must first be doubled in order to provide all-day service — no engineering or environmental studies have yet been done to get the ball rolling on that project.

Article Continued Below

“These are things that are going to take months to work out. John Tory isn’t going to be able to solve this on his first day,” said Munro.

During the campaign Tory repeatedly said his good relationships in the provincial and federal governments will make it easier to wrest transit funding from them, but considering the pledges already on the table, much of that work is already complete.

Premier Kathleen Wynne committed in this year’s budget to sinking $15 billion into GTA transport projects in the next 10 years. While much of that cash is already spoken for, some of it is devoted to the RER plan and would end up paying for a significant portion of SmartTrack.

While Wynne has remained steadfastly neutral throughout the mayoral campaign, she has admitted to being on good terms with Tory, whom she defeated in the 2007 provincial election. Like Tory, she doesn’t want to revisit the decision on building a Scarborough subway and has placed an emphasis instead on regional transit in the GTA.

The federal conservatives have also announced a big new infrastructure program. While the $14-billion Building Canada Fund gives the impression that there is a lot of money, it will be spread thinly across the country. No projects have yet been announced, but only $2.72 billion is earmarked for Ontario.

This, Munro points out, is far less than the one-third federal portion of the $15-billion price tag for SmartTrack.

But with a federal election expected next fall, observers expect Stephen Harper to make a big transit funding commitment to woo GTA voters. This could give Tory an early win and top up his SmartTrack coffers.

Article Continued Below

While some federal and provincial funding is all but guaranteed, the city will still have to pay for the extra features of SmartTrack that go above and beyond Metrolinx’s vision: more stations and the Mount Dennis spur along Eglinton St. W.

Transit planners, like David Crowley, who worked with the TTC and on systems around the world, say Tory will have a tough time convincing suburban commuters to suffer through additional downtown stops.

But Crowley said the real problem with SmartTrack is that Tory hasn’t said where the money to operate the lines will come from. “All the money is for is for capital, nothing for operating.”

Even though SmartTrack appears to be on track, the city’s other major transit need — a downtown relief line — still has to be tackled.

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com